Hi all. I think I could summarize Claudia's comment by saying "information exchange is possible, but not easy", which is really a task for software developers to sort out. Am I right?

IMHO, what we need to help sort it out are "background" technologies, and promote the use of open standards to help that technology. Things that users never see (in cell phones, that would be the network you're on, the protocol used by the phone to communiate with towers, etc). The product (the phone in this case) should encompass all those standards to make it easier for us users.

The buildingSMART IFC is one such technology, and "linked data" is another technology. Linked data is not something you buy and turn on, but something that could be built into an application or data service designed to acquire and share information quickly and efficiently.